


The Enduring Mystery of the Winter Soldier

by Origamidragons



Series: Buzzfeed Unsolved: Fiction Edition [3]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Conspiracy Theories, Gen, Humor, Hydra (Marvel), MCU Background Culture, POV Outsider, Social Media, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 10:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15411063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Origamidragons/pseuds/Origamidragons
Summary: “This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved we’re going to be discussing a modern urban legend- the Winter Soldier."





	The Enduring Mystery of the Winter Soldier

**Buzzfeed Unsolved - Supernatural** S5 • E2  
_The Enduring Mystery of the Winter Soldier_

The episode begins with the hoarse hooting of an owl in the far distance and, much closer, the echoing ringing of a church bell as animated mist drifts across the title of the show: _Unsolved._

“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved we’re going to be discussing a modern urban legend- the Winter Soldier. The myth of the Soldier has existed in some form for around seventy years now, but has experienced a surge in popularity- and sightings- in the past couple of years.” 

“Today we’re going to discuss the story of the Soldier and whether or not he does, or ever did, exist… as well as his possible identity. Are you ready?” This last was directed at Shane, who was learning back in his chair, fingers laced behind his head. 

“Yeah, I’m ready for a good campfire story,” Shane agreed easily. 

“I’m getting the strangest feeling,” Ryan said, “that you’re not taking this very seriously.”

“Look at me. Do I look like I take anything seriously?”

“Point, but I don’t think that’s really a victory for you.”

“I mean, this is like you asking me to be serious about mothman. I can’t do it. You can’t be serious about anything your friends told you about to try and scare you at boy scout camp.”

Ryan blinked. “You were a boy scout?” 

“Briefly,” Shane said, and offered no further explanation. Ryan stared at him for a moment, then turned back to face the camera, shaking his head slightly. The screen transitioned to graphics, illustrating his words as he began narrating.

“The legend of the Winter Soldier begins somewhere around 1950, when the first story of him surfaced. A Ukrainian woman named Marichka Kolisnyk gave an interview after her home was burned down with her husband inside in a fire that was eventually ruled accidental.”

A segment of audio plays. Though the woman is speaking Ukrainian, her distress is plainly apparent in her voice, and her words are occasionally interrupted by sobs. An English translation scrolls across the bottom of the screen as she speaks.

Subtitles: _‘I cannot stand this! They told me my husband was a traitor! He was not a traitor, he was a good man, a good husband, he would never betray our country! But they send that, that ghost, that monster, that_ Winter Soldier. _They will send him for me next. I know they will.’_

_poor lady_

_yeah_

_you’re not going to like this next part_

“Tragically, several weeks following this interview, the woman in question was found dead, floating in the Dnieper River. Cause of death was identified as a broken neck, and the common theory was that she either fell or jumped in, but this doesn’t explain the ring of bruises that were found around her neck.” 

_what???_

_so, obviously very suspicious_

_yeah! no shit!_

“The death of Marichka Kolisnyk is the earliest known case where the name ‘Winter Soldier’ was actually used, though it is thought he could have been active for as long as a decade prior. It’s worth noting that at the time, the Ukraine was a part of the USSR, and Marichka Kolisnyk’s husband had previously been accused of acting as a double agent for the United States against the Soviet government. Many of the cases the Winter Soldier has been linked to also had similar direct or indirect connections to the USSR and later the Russian government, which, coupled with the fact that Russia is famously connoted with winter and cold, has led some the theorize about a possible connection.”

_okay, so... you know how you’re always saying i’m going to get us killed by being disrespectful to, like, ghosts and demons?_

_in other words, things that DO NOT EXIST_

_i mean that’s a matter of opinion_

_the point is- you’re the one who’s going to get us killed_

_some shadow operative will watch this and we’re going to get ‘from Russia with love’d all over the wallpaper_

_i, uh, i don’t know if i’m more surprised that you actually seem to be buying into this theory or that you think Russian assassins watch our show_

_if you get me killed by a Russian assassin, i, i’m haunting your ass_

_...did you just say-_

_if ghosts were real! If they were real! which they’re not!_

_nice catch_

_thanks_

“Over several decades and numerous sightings, blurry photographs, and eyewitness accounts, a number of details repeat, allowing us to paint a decent picture of what the Winter Soldier looks like. He’s most likely a man, tall and very physically fit, around five-ten to six feet tall. He has brown hair that’s been described as shoulder-length, and generally not well-groomed. He’s been said to wear a mask over the lower half of his face, military fatigues, and, most strikingly, to have a silver cybernetic left arm emblazoned with a red star.”

_there’s really not many good pictures of him, sort of like the sasquatch thing_

_sasquatch is real, though_

_i’m not gonna dignify that with a response_

“Some of the only clear photos of the man believed to be the Winter Soldier were taken two years ago in Washington D.C., following a catastrophic pile-up and mass shooting that was believed to be linked to the terrorist group HYDRA, and it verifies many of these details.”

_so if he’s been around, doin’ his Winter Soldier thing since the fifties-_

_or the forties_

_-or the forties, right, whatever, if he’s been merrily murdering people all that time, shouldn’t he be, like, a decrepit old man by now? There’s no eighty-year-old man setting off car bombs in downtown D.C., ryan_

_i’m going to get to that, i promise_

“High-profile deaths the Winter Soldier has been reportedly connected to over the years, though never proven, include Liaquat Ali Khan, JFK, Howard and Maria Stark, Martin Luther King Junior, Nick Fury, and many others.”

“Now that we’ve covered most of the background information, let’s talk about some theories- both as to who the Winter Soldier might be, and how he has survived so long.”

“Our first theory to explain the Soldier’s unnatural longevity and apparent youth is that ‘Winter Soldier’ is actually a title, passed down between active agents under the employ of the Russian government as the old Soldiers get old, die, or retire.”

_so like james bond_

_i- fuck, you’re right_

_hahahahaha_

“Evidence against this theory is that, though photographs of the Soldier are few and far between, eyewitness accounts over the years have stayed remarkably consistent on details such as hair color, height, and build, and, of course, the arm. All this would seem to indicate that it was the same person.”

_i mean- personally i don’t think they would be amputating and replacing arms every time they needed a new winter soldier_

_that would be very inefficient_

“A second potential explanation lies in, of all people, Captain America, whose case famously proved that it is possible to slow or even halt outward signs of cell age and death. It’s been well-documented that numerous foreign governments, including Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, attempted to recreate the serum that created Captain America. Is it really so far of a leap to assume that one such attempt may have succeeded at least partway?” 

_so you’re saying that the Winter Soldier is Captain Russia_

_...something like that_

_you’re right, that is a leap_

“Numerous accounts describe the Soldier as being unnaturally strong, fast, and durable, all qualities that even an incomplete serum would have been theoretically able to grant him.”

_you don’t think that if you were, uh, if you had a Russian psycho with a kickass metal arm chasing you down, you wouldn’t maybe perceive him as being stronger and faster than normal_

_i mean, just thinking about the fear factor, our brains really exaggerate stuff sometimes_

_yeah, i’ll give you that one_

“There are many theories in existence about the Soldier’s true identity, whether or not it is in fact a single person. Most of them are on pretty shaky ground, evidence-wise, so I’m not going to address them all, but I’d like to talk about one in particular that I find compelling.”

“After pictures taken of the Winter Soldier during the D.C. attack went viral, users on several conspiracy sites used Stark Industries facial recognition software to run it through several criminal and missing persons databases. While there were no exact matches, user ‘Tatooqueens’ found significant similarities between what could be seen of the Soldier’s face and that of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, missing/presumed killed in action since 1945, as well as a matching height and build.”

_that name sounds familiar_

_yeah, he was second in command of the howling commandos, they made some movies about them_

_ryan_

_are you implying that captain america’s best bro shot jfk_

_well, when you say it like that it sounds stupid_

“Some quick background on Sergeant Barnes and his disappearance. Barnes was best friends with Steve Rogers from childhood, and Rogers’ first military outing as Captain America was prompted by Barnes being taken as a prisoner of war, where he was reportedly experimented on by HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola before being rescued. Interestingly, Zola was later taken prisoner by the United States before being traded to the Soviet Union as part of Operation Paperclip.”

“Barnes was on a mission with the Howling Commandos, including Captain America, to hijack a train. They met with unexpected difficulties, and Barnes was knocked from the side of the train and vanished into the ravine it was travelling over. Weather and terrain issues made retrieval immediately impossible, and by the time a proper effort could be launched as part of President Eisenhower’s Bring Them Home initiative to locate and return the remains of lost soldiers, nothing was left.”

_(rustling noises) hang on a second_

_what?_

_i, uh, i was looking for some tinfoil so you could make yourself a hat_

_i mean, is it really that far out of the realm of plausibility?_

_you’re making captain america sad_

_that’s a low blow_

_he’s disappointed in you, ryan_

“In the end, we may never know the identity of the Winter Soldier, his motives, or even if he truly exists. This is a case spanning continents and centuries, and for now, it remains… unsolved.”

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:  
> -I realized when I was almost done with this that I may have completely fucked up because I can't remember if in MCU canon Bucky was ever under the Soviet Union or if he always was with HYDRA-inside-SHIELD but WELP  
> -You know who 'tatooqueens' is. Yes, it's who you think it is. Tell me he doesn't write on superhero conspiracy boards, I fucking dare you.  
> -Shuri definitely watches Buzzfeed Unsolved. She lost her shit when she met Bucky and she showed this video to him as part of his reintegration into modern culture.


End file.
